you talked to the doctor?"
He nodded.
"Then you know I'm..."She couldn't say the word. How could she be dying? She had never been sick a day in her life until now .
"Annie, please do not leave me. "
"I don't want to."
"Then stay. Trust me to help you."
"What can you do that the doctor cannot?" she asked, and listened in growing horror as he told her a tale she could not believe.
"No." She shook her head weakly. "Even if what you're saying is true, I can't live like that. "
"Annie, it is the only way!" He caught her up in his arms and buried his face in her hair. "Please, my best beloved one, please do not leave me again!"
She clutched at his shoulders as she felt the life fading from her body. "I think I shall miss you, Dominic, even in heaven."
His voice, calling her name, was the last thing she remembered...
"No!"Tracy woke abruptly, her body bathed in sweat. She glanced at the window, relieved to see that night was withdrawing her cloak from the face of the land.
On the brink of the dark sleep of his kind, he stared into the darkness, his senses filled withTracy . The scent of her perfume lingered in his nostrils. The memory of her voice whispered in his ear. Her smile warmed his heart. He closed his eyes and images from the past flooded his mind.
He saw a scantily cladTracy dancing in front of a tent full of men, holding them spellbound as she moved in sinuous grace, her long golden hair falling like a veil of silk past her waist. Her hips moved in slow, sensual allure, the hint of a smile promising to fulfill the fantasy of every man in the place. Only she wasn'tTracy then - she was Kiya , the enchantress.
He stood near the back of the tent, his hands fisted at his sides, his jaw clenched. The scent of unbridled lust filled the evening air.
He took a step forward, anger surging through him when one of the men tried to grab hold of her arm. With a laugh, Kiya twirled out of the man's reach, her diaphanous skirts swirling around her ankles, flying up to offer a glimpse of her long, shapely legs. The jeweled bracelets on her wrists winked in the candlelight.
Men tossed gold coins at her feet when the music ended. She quickly scooped up the money and with a last seductive smile, ran out of the tent.
Dominic followed her outside. Keeping to the shadows, he ghosted after her as she made her way toward her lodgings.
Though his feet made no sound as he moved over the sand, she paused and glanced over her shoulder.
"Who's there?"
"A friend," he replied.
Lifting her skirt, she drew a wicked-looking knife from a sheath strapped high on her thigh. "What kind of friend hides in the darkness?"
"One who would like to know you better. "
"Then show yourself."
He walked slowly toward her, stopping an arm's length away.
"Why are you following me?" she demanded.
"I merely wanted to make sure you arrived at your destination safely."
"Oh? And why is that?"
"I would not wish to see any harm befall one so lovely, so talented."
She studied his face as if judging his sincerity, then nodded. "You were watching me tonight. "
"I have watched you every night. "
"And followed me home!" she exclaimed.
"Yes."
She studied him a moment longer, then sheathed her weapon, uncaring that she exposed a long, slender leg to do so.
"Come," she invited, "walk with me. "
He walked her home every night after that, often staying with her until the hour before dawn, when he left to seek his lair. She was a wild girl, filled with the fire of youth and an inexhaustible passion for living. Her laughter was like the tinkling of temple bells, her hair like fine black silk,her skin smooth and without blemish.
In time, she took him into her heart, and then into her bed. And when, at last, he told her what he was, she did not turn away in disgust or look at him with revulsion, or banish him from her presence. And for that he had vowed to love her as long as she lived, to grant her any wish that was within his power to give.
They spent three years together. She became famous throughout all the known land. She danced for kings and princes, for sultans and sheiks. And always he stood in the shadows, watching over her.
As her fame grew, he warned her to be careful of